Project Complexity and Risk Assessment Tool

Instructions

Background

The Project Complexity and Risk Assessment (PCRA) Tool is a 64 question assessment that determines the risk and complexity of a project.

The questions are each given an equal percentage in the overall score. Because the PCRA score evaluates a wide range of inherent risks, it is unlikely that a single project would be susceptible to all of the potential risks. The worst case scenario would be that 70% of the inherent risks would be present in any one project. Therefore the actual raw score of the assessment is divided by 70 to determine how the project compares to the worst case. This tool is presented in an excel file that will tabulate the score automatically and is supported by the PCRA User Guide.

Excel version of the tool

The Excel version of the PCRA tool is intended to be used by project teams as a working or rough copy during the early stages of the assessment while information is being gathered. To complete the submission of the assessment, the information gathered in the Excel tool version should be sent to the designated branch contact to be transcribed to Treasury Board's online version of the assessment tool by PWGSC's Office of Investment Planning to notify TBS of PCRA scores for planned projects.

Question colour scheme

Green: When the score box has gone green it indicates that the question has been answered. The orange score box will turn green once one of the answer options has been selected.

Orange: When the score box is orange and a '--' indicator is visible it indicates that a question has been missed or remains unanswered.

Additional instructions

Additional Information: Additional information on the purpose of each section or the significance of a particular rating can be found within User Guide which is posted at the on-line web version of the assessment tool site. (See the reference documents section)

Definition of Terms: For definition of terms, please refer to the glossary of terms at end of the User Guide. (See the reference documents section). Some of the terms in the assessment tool may not be a best fit for your organization. Please consult with your reviewer or departmental/agency lead on how the terms are to be applied in your organization.

Future updates: All future updated versions of the assessment tool will be posted on the on-line Web site for the assessment tool site. (See the reference documents section)

Interpreting the results: For a description on interpreting the results of the assessment, please see the User Guide, which is posted at the on-line web version of the assessment tool site. (See the reference documents section)

Trouble shooting

Macro Settings: This application uses macros, for these macros to work correctly, Security Settings on your computer must be set to 'Low'.